Health Reform has a Mental Health Trojan Horse
The new coverage of mental illness covers a vast array of the “worried well,” who have no neurological or mental disorders but simply have problems in living:
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, “One in 5 Americans will have a mental health illness this year and almost half will have a mental illness in their lifetimes. Yet 10 million people didn’t get the mental health care they needed last year, and 20 million didn’t get substance abuse services.”
[Yet] the American Psychiatric Association (APA) claims that more than 50 percent of Americans are mentally ill in their lifetime – and recent APA studies dwarf that statistic. Moreover, the problems that qualify as “mental disorders,” all those listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), are virtually without limit.
You are right. This is going to be a Trojan Horse. There is no limit to how much you can spend on mental health care.
I agree with Vicki. It’s a bottomless pit.
It looks like they are going to do administratively what they could never accomplish legislatively. Too bad. this is likely to be very costly.
The problem with mental health is that people who have diagnosable conditions — even severe ones — often fail to get treatment. It is highly unlikely people will rush into psychiatrist’s offices simply because insurance coverage is available. Under most insurance plans, and parity legislation, that coverage is available NOW. But, it is under-utilized.
Cost-effective and reliable treatments are readily available. Currently, depression alone costs us $30 billion annually. If people who are depressed would seek treatment, it is likely that dollar figure would be significantly lower.
To those of you above who opine that mental health is a “bottomless pit” or a Trojan horse: God forbid anyone you love succumbs to severe depression or mental illness! I suspect your opinion would undergo a radical change. Same goes for John Goodman and the misinformed authors of the NY Times editorial. No one is immune.